Transportation and Communication Revolutions While the cotton culture boomed in the South, with a resultant increase in slavery, commercial agriculture emerged in the West, aided by a demand for corn, wheat, and cattle and by many inventions. The first stages of the Industrial Revolution in the Northeast reshaped the region’s economy and led to the explosive growth of cities and factories. The Erie Canal contributed to New York City’s status as the nation’s economic center and spurred the growth of Chicago and other midwestern cities. The revolution in transportation and communication linked rural communities to a worldwide marketplace.
Inventions and the Economy Inventions in agriculture included the cotton gin, which increased cotton production in the South. Other inventions, such as John Deere’s steel plow and Cyrus McCormick’s mechanized reaper, helped Americans, especially westerners, farm their land more eiflcientiy and more profitably. Canals and other improvements in transportation allowed goods to reach markets quicker and more cheaply than ever before. The railroads, which expanded rapidly during the 1850s, and the telegraph diminished the isolation of the West and united the country economically and socially.
Immigration The promise of cheap land and good wages drew millions of immigrants to America. Those who arrived in the 1840s came not just from the Protestant regions of Britain and Europe that had supplied most of America’s previous immigrants. The devastating potato famine led to an influx of destitute Irish Catholic families. Also, Chinese laborers were drawn to California’s goldfields, where nativists objected to their presence because of their poverty and their religion.
Workers Organize The first unions, formed by artisans who feared a loss of status in the face of mechanization, were local and based on individual crafts.
An early attempt at a national union collapsed with the panic of 1837. Unions faced serious legal obstacles even after a Massachusetts court ruled in 1842 that the formation of unions was legal. Weak national unions had reappeared by 1860.
World History
